“When I ‘dropped out of college’ as a dean,
I opened Gurari Collections,” says Gerard.
“The venue has provided an opportunity to
diversify the inventory. It reflects a more comprehensive view of my collecting interests.”

Urbanism, architecture, design, and the
human figure are all areas of thematic specialization for Gurari Collections, with a particular focus on the fantastic, such as a group
of theoretical fountains by Baroque architect
Georg Andreas Bockler. It’s these so-called
architectural curiosities that pique Gerard’s
interest in where and how art meets science.

“The intersection of how science has
become part of our artistic expressions” is how
he describes his focus. A perfect example are
the copperplate etchings by Bockler, who
created the grand and novel fountains for an
imaginary pleasure park in the 1660s as a way
to compile all his research on hydrology.

Then there are the artifacts, like the Victorian butler ball (a mercury-glass gazing ball